April 8, 2026

The Origin of Weird: The Mechanical Messiah - John Murray Spear

The Origin of Weird: The Mechanical Messiah - John Murray Spear
RSS Feed podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player icon

A decent, hard-working reformer walks into the 1850s, discovers spiritualism, and decides electricity can save the world. That’s not a metaphor. We’re telling the true story of John Murray Spear, a Universalist minister and outspoken abolitionist who believed people and systems could be redeemed, then took that same hope and aimed it at building a literal mechanical messiah.

We talk through why spiritualism was so contagious in mid-19th century America: the Fox sisters, seances as social events, automatic writing, and the idea that invisible forces might be “science” when electricity itself still feels magical. We also get into why the movement created a rare platform for women, since mediumship let them lead gatherings and speak with authority in a culture that regularly denied them power.

Then it gets truly wild. Spear claims a spirit collective called the Association of Electrizers, featuring famous dead minds like Benjamin Franklin, telepathically sends him blueprints for a device called the New Motive Power. His followers build it from batteries, copper wires, and metal parts, perform rituals to charge it with life force, and stage a full labor-and-delivery reenactment with a chosen “New Mary” to help “birth” the machine into the world. The reaction outside the group is swift and brutal, and the ending raises a question that still matters today: when new technology arrives, how easily can hope turn into belief, and belief into something dangerous?

Listen now, then subscribe, share the episode with a fellow history nerds, and leave us a rating and review. What modern “miracle tech” do you think people are treating like a religion right now?

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show













This website contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and purchase a product, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the running of this website and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Please note that I only recommend products and services that I believe in and have personally used or researched.

00:00 - Cold Open And Introductions

01:10 - The Reddit Hook That Started It

03:05 - Spear The Reformer And Minister

07:55 - Why Spiritualism Exploded In America

15:05 - Dead Geniuses Give Electrical Blueprints

20:25 - Rituals To Bring The Machine Alive

24:05 - The Mechanical Birth And Violent Backlash

26:55 - Aftermath And Where To Find Us

WEBVTT

00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:19.760
Oh hey there.

00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:22.480
I'm leaving that fucking in.

00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:24.399
Oh hey there.

00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:26.160
I'm just having a beer.

00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:27.679
Sorry, this is Kate.

00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:28.719
This is Bradley.

00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:31.519
And this is the History Buffoons Origin of Weird.

00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:35.520
And boy do I have a weird one for you.

00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:36.799
You got a good one for me?

00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:37.520
Oh yeah.

00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:38.479
I look forward to it.

00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:39.119
What do you got?

00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:39.600
Okay.

00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:53.600
So sometimes if I don't have so I have a whole list of like topics that I eventually want to get to, but sometimes nothing calls to me, right?

00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:57.039
No, like you're looking at the list like Yeah Yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:00:57.359 --> 00:00:58.000
I totally get it.

00:00:58.159 --> 00:00:59.759
So I went to Reddit.

00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:00.399
Oh.

00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:04.480
And I searched for weird historical figures.

00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:05.120
Okay.

00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:08.000
And what popped up did not disappoint.

00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:08.560
Okay.

00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:14.159
So I am going to read what drew me in on Reddit.

00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:17.280
And it was um by then you expanded on that?

00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:18.159
Oh, for sure, for sure.

00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:19.120
Okay, cool, cool.

00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:20.000
Yeah.

00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:24.319
So it was written by Broken Eye 3 on Reddit.

00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:25.280
Broken i3, okay.

00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:26.400
And this is what he said.

00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:26.879
Okay.

00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:28.079
Are you ready for this?

00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:29.280
I'm ready.

00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:31.599
John Murray Spear.

00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:33.920
John Murray Spear.

00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:35.439
Was a 19th century.

00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:37.040
Oh, you just don't interrupt.

00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:37.519
Like let me.

00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:38.239
Oh, I'm sorry.

00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:39.120
No, that's okay.

00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:39.920
Just this one part.

00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:41.760
It's just one whole big sentence.

00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:42.319
Yep.

00:01:42.560 --> 00:02:12.479
John Murray Spear was a 19th-century American activist, humanitarian, and all-around outstanding, decent human being who tried to build his own messiah out of mechanical parts animated by the disembodied soul of the non-existent baby from a female follower's phantom pregnancy based on designs transmitted to him telepathically by a secret society of famous dead people.

00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:17.120
What the actual fuck exactly drew me right in.

00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:18.319
How could it not?

00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:23.919
Somebody, somebody responded with, I don't think I could inhale while reading that.

00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:28.319
All right, do tell, do tell.

00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:30.639
Okay, so yeah, that drew me in real quick.

00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:31.439
So thank you so much.

00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:33.199
Broken Eye 3 of Reddit.

00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:35.120
Yeah, shout out broken eye.

00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:37.919
Uh that is fucking weird to begin with.

00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:39.520
All right, let's get into it.

00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:47.520
So in the mid-1800s, when electricity was new, people were beginning to figure out what it could actually do.

00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:58.000
Man was this man was looking at all that buzzing, buzzing, and like crackling potential, and he thought, this is how we're gonna save humanity.

00:02:58.639 --> 00:02:59.840
Jesus Christ.

00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:00.479
Okay.

00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.919
His name was John Mary's Murray Spear.

00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:04.400
Yeah.

00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:08.879
And he for a while was a perfectly reasonable person.

00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:10.639
For a while.

00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:12.960
What age are we talking?

00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:14.000
Do you have an age on him?

00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:14.719
I don't.

00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:16.159
Of course you don't.

00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:19.840
He um I think he was in his 40s.

00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:23.680
I think he was born in like 1804-ish.

00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:28.000
And we're talking about like the 1840s, 1850s, so somewhere around there.

00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:29.759
I'm in my 40s.

00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:33.840
So as a universalist minister.

00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:35.120
Universalist?

00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:36.879
What is a universalist?

00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:40.960
Something that Kate didn't look up.

00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:52.639
Uh so when I think of universalist now, I think of pretty much um a church who welcomes and loves absolutely encompasses everybody.

00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:53.439
Everyone.

00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:54.159
Okay.

00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:55.280
Fair enough.

00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:55.840
Okay.

00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:57.439
Exactly what I thought.

00:03:57.680 --> 00:03:59.680
Is that more or less what it is?

00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:02.479
Everyone is ultimately saved.

00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:10.479
It doesn't matter who you are, what you believe, what gender you are, who you love, you are already you are saved.

00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:11.919
You can be saved.

00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:14.879
Well, it shouldn't matter what gender you love.

00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:19.920
I mean, tweet your own on that, but it's like, okay.

00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:21.360
So continue.

00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:26.639
So he believed that no one was beyond redemption.

00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:27.839
Everyone regarded.

00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:29.759
Shouldn't we all believe that though?

00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:31.920
I mean, in theory, you would think.

00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:35.360
Because, like, yeah, there's some terrible fucking people in this world.

00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:38.879
And some probably are beyond redemption.

00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:50.000
However, some people do shitty things, but maybe it was an accident, maybe it was a cause of situation.

00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:52.879
And that's when they ask for forgiveness, and then they're saved.

00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:55.759
Yeah, I just gotta go throw it in the confessional and you're good.

00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:56.079
Okay.

00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:57.600
So if you're Catholic.

00:04:57.839 --> 00:04:59.439
So well, you know what I mean.

00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:05.439
Regardless of their past, their status, their mistakes, they had value.

00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:09.680
And it was a theology rooted in compassion.

00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:15.519
And at the time, it set him apart from the tradition that lead the tradition that leads.

00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:18.800
I've had a couple beers.

00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:19.600
Hey.

00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:27.759
It set him apart from the traditions that leaned heavily on punishment and damnation.

00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:28.480
Right.

00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:30.800
And he didn't just talk the talk.

00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:32.000
He walked the walk.

00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:33.600
He walked the walk.

00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:35.040
So what kind of walk was it?

00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:36.240
Was like a strut?

00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:45.920
Oh, it was like a run because Spear became deeply involved in reform movements that were gaining traction in the early 19th century.

00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:46.319
Okay.

00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:51.519
He was an abolitionist at a time that taking a stance wasn't just controversial.

00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:56.000
It could cost you your position, your reputation, and sometimes your life.

00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:56.879
Oh, wow.

00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:02.160
So speaking out against slavery meant challenging powerful systems.

00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:05.040
And Spear didn't shy away from that.

00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:11.040
He also worked in prison reform, which at the time was already pretty fucking bleak.

00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:14.560
Prisoners weren't designed at the time for rehabilitation.

00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:19.120
They were harsh, they were overcrowded, they were inhumane a lot of times.

00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:20.639
Sounds like today.

00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:24.639
And Speer believed that people inside them weren't lost causes.

00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:28.879
They were human beings who deserve dignity and the chance to change.

00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:34.240
Well, and honestly, again, there's probably a lot that time and today.

00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:34.720
Yes.

00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:36.160
That that is true, yeah.

00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:37.199
100% true.

00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:42.720
Yes, there's some lost fucking causes that are straight up fucking evil fucking people.

00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:43.360
Yes.

00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:49.279
However, some again, depending on your situation, circumstance, whatever.

00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:54.160
I don't even want to know what just happened there.

00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:57.519
Um I had a niche.

00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.319
You really know where do you want to tell the folks where?

00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:01.199
Okay.

00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:05.120
Because all I saw was a reach back, but anyways.

00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:06.879
It was my lower back.

00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:07.279
It's fine.

00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:08.160
Lower crack.

00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:09.120
Keep going.

00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:15.199
You derailed me again, just like there are some shitty people in prisons.

00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:22.240
There's some shitty people, but there's some people, again, who can be redeemed if you will.

00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:24.959
Because of shitty circumstances.

00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:25.519
Yeah.

00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:28.560
And maybe something went wrong.

00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:32.480
Not I'm not gonna say everyone's rehabilitable.

00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:35.279
I heard I believed it.

00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:36.160
Yeah.

00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:38.639
But there's a lot that are.

00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:42.000
So Spear visited these prisons.

00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:47.519
He preached to these inmates and he advocated for better conditions for them.

00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:49.839
Well, that's actually pretty awesome.

00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:50.319
Yeah.

00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:54.399
So if you think about it, it already tells you something really important about him.

00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:54.800
Yeah.

00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:59.360
He was a man who believed deeply that systems could be improved.

00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:00.720
He was a man of the people.

00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:01.199
Yeah.

00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:02.720
People could be saved.

00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:06.800
That as that the world as it was wasn't good enough yet.

00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:08.319
Well, it still isn't.

00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:09.279
And then.

00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:10.319
No and then.

00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:17.040
Like many people in the 1840s and the 1850s, he became interested in spiritualism.

00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:18.959
I say like occult type stuff.

00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:20.240
Yeah, pretty much.

00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:20.480
Yeah.

00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:21.360
More or less.

00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:22.800
More or less, absolutely.

00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:23.360
100%.

00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:24.399
You're right on.

00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:25.040
Okay.

00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:26.399
Oh dear.

00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:28.240
Was he speaking with the dead?

00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:29.199
Yep.

00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:30.800
Seriously?

00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:31.439
Yep.

00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:32.480
No way.

00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:38.000
So spiritualism at the time wasn't a hobby.

00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:39.679
It was actually wildly popular.

00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:40.960
Business almost.

00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:43.840
People held seances in their living rooms.

00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:50.960
They held used spirit boards and table tapping and automatic writing and basically anything that might let them.

00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:51.519
Yes.

00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:52.559
What is that?

00:08:52.799 --> 00:09:02.320
So it is a way to supposedly the spirit travels through you, through your hand, and you actually write.

00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:03.600
So like okay.

00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:06.240
Like I call on you, spirit of blah blah blah.

00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:08.000
You write out, yeah.

00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:12.000
Which is so fucking okay.

00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:12.639
Okay.

00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:15.519
I'll just leave it at so fucking so.

00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:16.559
Wow.

00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:22.000
It was part curiosity, part comfort, and part boredom.

00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:23.840
Like, what else are we gonna do?

00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:24.399
More or less.

00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:26.000
Like, hey man, what are you gonna do tonight?

00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:26.320
I don't know.

00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:28.320
I'm thinking of contacting some spirits.

00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:28.639
Yeah.

00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:29.759
I'm down, dude.

00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:30.240
Let's do that.

00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:41.840
So spiritualism in the 1850 was in many ways the perfect storm of belief and curiosity, but just enough mystery to make people think that it made sense.

00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:45.039
Well, and again, we're talking mid-1800s.

00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:49.039
I'm not gonna say anything bad about people in the mid-1800s.

00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:51.360
I mean, they're not alive still, so it's fine.

00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:52.879
Alright, fuck them, bitches.

00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:53.840
No, I'm just kidding.

00:09:54.080 --> 00:10:00.879
Um my point is Kate Spears out, and that is sad panda.

00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:01.759
Sad panda.

00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:05.360
So my point is, fucking hell, you keep derailing me.

00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:06.320
So sorry.

00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:15.279
And uh my point is what else you gonna do?

00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:17.200
What else are you gonna do on a Thursday night?

00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:19.840
It's not like they're gonna what's on the telly?

00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:21.440
You know?

00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:22.399
Yeah.

00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:25.120
They didn't have TV, they didn't have internet, obviously.

00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:26.960
Nothing of like that.

00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:29.759
Well, we could uh But they might have had back ammon.

00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:40.080
That's been around for what did we learn that was around since the 14s, 13, 16, 2800s?

00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:42.639
I don't I don't remember we looked it up.

00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:47.039
So recently, my my family 5,000 years ago.

00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:48.000
Yeah, that's what it was.

00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:50.320
It was a long in Mesopotamia?

00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:52.720
I fucking love Mesopotamia, am I right?

00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:53.600
Oh yeah.

00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:58.639
Um recently, my my family uh has has always had one.

00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:00.480
I've never learned how to play backgammon.

00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:05.519
Kate and I, we like learning old shit, hence history.

00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:16.000
We fucking learned backgammon and then we changed the rules so there's a couple rules that we just a hundred percent didn't agree with.

00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:18.320
So we we kind of did it our own way.

00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:22.480
Yeah, we tweaked it to our own way, and not for like and make it easier.

00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:23.519
No, we actually made it hard to do it.

00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:24.879
We actually made it harder, yeah.

00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:29.279
And uh yeah, so we're playing wow, this fucking went sideways.

00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:30.799
Let's get back to the story.

00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:41.759
So, spiritualism took off after two sisters, the Fox sisters, claimed in 1848 that they could communicate with a spirit through a series of knocks.

00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:45.840
They're full of shit and raps in their home.

00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:46.799
Oh, good lord.

00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:51.600
Instead of being dismissed outright, their story spread rather quickly.

00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:54.480
You're not weird, you're on point.

00:11:54.799 --> 00:12:00.639
So suddenly people weren't just hearing about spirits, they were trying to talk to them.

00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:03.600
And the methods were rather creative.

00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:12.879
Seances became social events, groups would gather in dimly lit rooms, sit around tables, and wait for signs from the other side.

00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:19.039
Tables would tilt and knock and even appear to move on their own as if people weren't doing it themselves.

00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:22.320
People claimed to receive messages through automatic writing.

00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:26.320
Look at Oh my god, someone's moving this table.

00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:32.399
Some medians would enter trance-like states and speak as if they were channels for the spirits.

00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:41.600
And to many, it did not feel ridiculous to them at the time because it was being framed as discovery.

00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:42.399
Okay.

00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:45.679
Discovery of nonsense, but okay.

00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:57.600
Spiritualists, I was gonna say scientists, not exactly scientists, spiritualists, believed that they weren't practicing superstition, they were uncovering a new kind of science.

00:12:58.240 --> 00:12:59.600
A way science?

00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:00.159
Yep.

00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:00.639
Okay.

00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:08.320
A way to study the soul, to understand what happened after death, to prove that consciousness didn't just disappear.

00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:21.679
In a world where electricity was still mysterious and invisible forces were clearly capable of doing real observable things like turning on a light.

00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:31.919
The idea that there might be another unseen force, one that connected the living and the dead, didn't feel like a stretch.

00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:36.480
Do you think they do you think if these people knew about Wi-Fi, they'd be just fucking blown away?

00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:39.039
Blown, mind blown.

00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:43.759
Reformers were drawn to it because it challenged traditional authority.

00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:47.440
Right, which is always taught you like, nope, this is what it is.

00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:49.039
Moved on, blah, blah, blah.

00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:49.519
Yep.

00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:59.600
So if you can could communicate directly with higher truths or even the spirits of great thinkers, you didn't need institutions to tell you what to believe.

00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:01.679
It was really empowering to these people.

00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.120
You didn't need institutions, you needed to be institutionalized.

00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:06.080
Fuck.

00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:10.639
Women in particular found a unique space within spiritualism.

00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:12.960
Yeah, because they already weren't people.

00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:15.440
Technically.

00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:19.679
I mean mediumship refer to our um shit.

00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:20.399
What's it called?

00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:21.759
Um Lizzie Seer.

00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:28.320
Lizzie's yes, and Lizzie Seer episode and the famous five where women were not considered people yet.

00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:30.240
So and thank you for getting that.

00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:30.960
Absolutely.

00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:40.639
So mediumship allowed them, allowed women to speak publicly, lead gatherings, and hold influence in ways that weren't typically available to them in other areas of society.

00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:41.039
Right.

00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:49.679
So when a woman spoke as a medium, she wasn't just speaking for herself, she was speaking for something beyond which made people listen.

00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:55.279
So what you ended up with was something that didn't fit neatly into a single category.

00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:59.120
It was part religion, part science, part social movement.

00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:02.159
And people fully accepted this.

00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:03.039
Yeah.

00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:04.320
Yes.

00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:06.320
So Spear, Mr.

00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:07.919
John Murray Spear.

00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:12.799
John Murray Spear did not just dabble in spiritualism.

00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:15.360
Oh, he fucking went full board.

00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:18.480
He walked the walk on this.

00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:20.480
Talk that talk.

00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:21.679
Before long.

00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:22.159
Yeah.

00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:28.960
He claimed he was receiving communications for from oh ho wait.

00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:35.039
From a group of spirits who called themselves the Association.

00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:37.919
I pronounced that weird.

00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:39.120
He really did.

00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:42.559
The Association of Electrizers.

00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:44.639
Electrizers?

00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:45.279
Yes.

00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:46.639
Like electric.

00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:46.960
Yeah.

00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:49.519
Only without the C, it's a Z.

00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:51.039
Electrizers.

00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:53.519
What the fuck?

00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:53.919
Okay.

00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:56.320
Doesn't that sound like a band or something?

00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.200
I am the Association of Electrizers.

00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:00.639
I think I'm gonna start a new band.

00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:04.960
My arms don't work anymore, but I'm gonna start a new band and be like, I'm the electricizers.

00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:07.440
You've got lateral epicondylitis.

00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:09.120
And tennis elbow.

00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:10.000
Yeah.

00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:12.000
That's tennis elbow.

00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:13.519
Oh, I didn't know.

00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:15.120
You could have just told me that.

00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:16.320
It's tennis elbow.

00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:19.200
It's also called lateral epicondylitis.

00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:22.480
It's also spawn it's also called tendinitis.

00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:24.240
I got tinnitus too.

00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:25.279
You do have tinnitus.

00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:26.000
Tinnitus.

00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:26.639
Okay.

00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:29.840
So, anyways, not to get weirder on subjects.

00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:30.879
Let's get weird here.

00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:36.320
Spear described them as a collective of advanced spirits.

00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:37.120
Oh my gosh.

00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:43.759
Former great thinkers, inventors, and intellectual minds who were continuing their work from the other side.

00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:46.480
Did he ever name any of the people?

00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:47.919
Of course he did.

00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:49.200
Of course he did.

00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:52.480
Benjamin Franklin, John Quincy Adams.

00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:53.679
Sir Isaac Newton?

00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:54.559
No.

00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:55.120
Really?

00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:56.240
That was not named.

00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:59.039
That's actually kind of surprising.

00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:01.440
Of what I recall.

00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:03.360
Jesus Christ.

00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:04.480
Continue, sorry.

00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:07.920
These spirits had a message, and it was Benjamin Franklin.

00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:08.480
Mm-hmm.

00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:12.720
It was really specific, supposedly, what they said.

00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:17.359
Well, humanity, they said, was not doing great.

00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:18.960
Society was flawed.

00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:21.839
Religion as it existed wasn't cutting it.

00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:24.960
What the world needed was a new force.

00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:31.039
Something that could really guide people into being better, more enlightened future.

00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:36.880
And it needed to be built physically with wires.

00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:40.799
And stupidity.

00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:47.039
Instead of saying, I'm gonna get a second opinion on this, bought into it.

00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:47.839
Got to work.

00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:48.480
Oh, for sure.

00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:50.480
Well, he didn't buy into it, he sold it.

00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:51.359
He sold, yeah.

00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:56.960
He began constructing what he called the new motive power.

00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:04.079
A device that he believed would usher in a new era of uh for humanity.

00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:04.640
Okay.

00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:22.000
It wasn't just a machine, it was meant to be a kind of divine engine, a physical embodiment, embodiment of embodiment of spiritual truth.

00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:25.119
Something that everybody's looking for spiritual truth.

00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:25.680
Yep.

00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:34.160
So something that would, in his mind, replace traditional religion and solve the problems of the world through a combination of electricity and optimism.

00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:35.279
Optimism.

00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:35.599
Okay.

00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:38.480
Descriptions of the machine vary.

00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:40.079
There's no image of it.

00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:40.640
Right.

00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:42.000
Well, 1850s.

00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:44.400
But the general picture is this.

00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:44.960
Okay.

00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:55.279
It was built from a mix of zinc batteries, copper wires, metal spheres, and other components, all housed in a wooden frame.

00:18:55.519 --> 00:19:06.480
It included a system meant to mimic breathing as if it were designed to function like a living orgas organism rather than just than just a device.

00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:07.119
Okay.

00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:15.359
But of course, to Spear and his followers, because he's now a cult leader, this was not a pile of parts.

00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:16.880
It was the future.

00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:26.240
As the machine took shape, the group surrounding Spear grew more invested and more convinced that they were part of something extraordinary.

00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:29.440
So is this basically like 1850s AI?

00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:32.640
It's like 1850s cultism.

00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:34.480
With AI?

00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:35.440
No.

00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:40.640
Because he's like putting it out there like this thing is real.

00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:43.680
And that's what people are talking about AI these days.

00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:44.319
True.

00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:45.279
However, right?

00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:46.799
Oh, let me get to the real part.

00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:47.759
Okay, okay, okay.

00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:49.279
It gets creepy.

00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:49.839
It gets weird.

00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:50.240
Yeah.

00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:52.559
Well, it better origin of weird.

00:19:52.960 --> 00:20:08.720
So the spirits continue to guide them, offering instructions and encouragement, and presumably com presumably a complete lack of hesitation to bring it to life like he's fucking Frankenstein.

00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:11.519
No, fix that.

00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:14.240
Frankenstein, the doctor.

00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:16.079
Frankenstein's monster.

00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:17.519
I'm not talking about the monster.

00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:19.359
I'm talking about Frankenstein the Doctor.

00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:20.640
Okay.

00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:23.680
To bring it to life like he is Dr.

00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:24.720
Frankenstein.

00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:26.319
I see what you're saying, though.

00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:26.559
Okay.

00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:34.160
Spear and his followers performed a series of elaborate rituals meant to charge it with life force.

00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:37.039
What do you make his female followers do?

00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:39.440
Because that's what it sounds like we're headed towards.

00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:41.039
Jesus Christ.

00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:48.160
Groups of people physically gathered and touched the machine as though transferring energy into it.

00:20:48.559 --> 00:21:00.720
Spear then took these things a step further, dressing it in specifically designed outfit covered in metal plates and gemstones before entering a deep trance.

00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:10.559
During this state, witnesses claimed there was a visible connection described as a stream of light linking him directly to the machine.

00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:11.839
It's probably a candle.

00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:14.640
And then the plan escalated.

00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:21.759
Because building the machine wasn't enough, it had to be brought to life.

00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:25.759
So enter Miss Mary Ann Brown.

00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:27.680
Who's Mary Ann Brown?

00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:30.720
She was one of Sparr's devoted followers.

00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:31.680
Of course she was.

00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:36.079
And she was chosen for a very specific and important role.

00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:38.960
She would act as New Mary.

00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:40.000
A symbolic.

00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:49.200
A symbolic mother figure who would give birth to the machine, like Exhiley.

00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:52.480
No.

00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:53.519
Thank God.

00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:59.839
What followed was a ritual that can only be described as a full scale enactment of labor and delivery.

00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.000
Delivery, much like a handmaid's tale.

00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:06.000
I've never seen the show.

00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:08.799
In the handmaid's tale.

00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:10.640
I give the gist of it, yeah.

00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:20.799
The the wit the the rich women would fake labor while their servants were actually delivering their babies.

00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:23.440
So that's exactly what's happening.

00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:25.759
They're fake delivering this machine.

00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:26.240
Okay.

00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:27.440
Oh my god.

00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:33.359
So over the course of several days, Brown went through what the group interpreted as labor pains.

00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:41.599
She was surrounded by followers, guided by the supposed instructions of the equ eclipse.

00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:42.799
Oh my god.

00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:44.559
Eclizers.

00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:46.559
Ecliotrizers.

00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:47.119
Oh my god.

00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:48.000
I can't even pronounce it.

00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:48.480
It's so weird.

00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:50.079
It's just fucking weird.

00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:57.440
All of them fully committed to the idea that this machine was about to be born into the world as a living spiritual entity.

00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:00.079
This is fucking weird.

00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:09.599
At no point did anyone step back and say, just to clarify, we are currently talking about like the birth of a div like a machine, right?

00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:10.400
Like a device.

00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:14.160
So is this like an early.

00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:15.680
I'm not gonna finish that.

00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:16.400
Go ahead.

00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:23.119
The moment of delivery was treated with seriousness.

00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:33.200
There was a ceremony, there was anticipation, there was one assumes a level of emotional investment usually reserved for actual human beings.

00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:33.599
Right.

00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:37.680
And then at the end of all of it, the machine was declared alive.

00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:39.200
Oh fucking hell.

00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:49.839
For a brief period, the new mode of power was treated as exactly what Spear claimed it to be: a revolutionary force that would change the world.

00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:54.880
It represented hope, progress, and a new direction for humanity.

00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:59.119
Unfortunately, the rest of humanity had not been consulted by this.

00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:08.079
So, news of the machine and the circumstances of its quote-unquote birth spread, and it wasn't enthusiastic.

00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:09.599
I don't know about that.

00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:20.240
Locals were confused and skeptical and increasingly uncomfortable with the idea that a group of people had gathered to midwife a mechanical savior.

00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:23.440
Oh fucking hell.

00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:26.799
A group of locals confronted the situation.

00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:30.640
They destroyed the miss the machine.

00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:36.319
Because of they're like, we don't we don't get this, we don't believe in this, so we're gonna kill the machine.

00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:39.519
That's you, I mean, that's that's typical human nature, yeah.

00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:46.880
And just like that, humanity's brief experiment with an electrically powered messiah came to an abrupt end.

00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:52.319
And Spear, to his credit, did not entirely abandon his beliefs.

00:24:52.559 --> 00:25:02.240
He did remain involved in spiritualism, continued to promote his ideas, though he never tried to recreate the new mode of power.

00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:06.480
I found this on Wikipedia.

00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:08.480
So I don't know the truth of this.

00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:21.519
But it said his business card said, quote, guided and assisted by beneficent spirit intelligence, Mr.

00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:43.599
S will examine and prescribe for disease of body and mind, will delineate the character of persons when present or by letter, and indicate their future as impressions are given him, will sketch the special capacities of young persons, applications to lecture or hold conversations on spiritualism will be welcomed.

00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:45.359
Jesus Christ.

00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:46.559
That is one hell of a business.

00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:47.839
How many business card?

00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:50.480
How many business cards did it take to carry that?

00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:51.759
Holy shit.

00:25:52.799 --> 00:26:03.279
In 1872, Speer claimed to have received a message from the Associ Association of Electrizers, urging him to retire from the ministry.

00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:09.599
And then he died on October 1887 in the city of Philadelphia.

00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:13.519
And that is the story of James Murray Speer.

00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:21.839
And I'm going to read it again because it is just so lovely how Broken Eye 3 from Reddit explained all this in a simple paragraph.

00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:22.319
Yes.

00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:51.680
He said, John Murray Spear was a 19th-century American activist, humanitarian, and all-around outstandingly decent human being who tried to build his own messiah out of mechanical parts animated by the disembodied soul of the non-existent baby from a female follower's phantom pregnancy based on designs transmitted to him telepathically by a secret society of famous dead people.

00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:55.039
That is the story of John Murray Spear.

00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:56.480
Whelp?

00:26:57.119 --> 00:26:59.279
Ha ha! Was that weird or what?

00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:04.960
That was fucking word I can't say because you get mad.

00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:05.920
Welp?

00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:06.799
I suppose.

00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:09.519
Alright, buffoons, that's it for today's episode.

00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:13.839
Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time.

00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:16.240
Feeling hungry for more buffoonery?

00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:21.200
Or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore?

00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:22.880
Hit us up on social media.

00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:27.680
We're History Buffoons Podcast on YouTube, X, Instagram, and Facebook.

00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:32.160
You can also email us at History Buffoons Podcast at gmail.com.

00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:35.359
We are Bradley and Kate, music by Corey Akers.

00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:40.240
Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn those notifications on to stay in the lube.

00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:43.759
Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to rate and review us.

00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:46.559
Remember, the buffoonery never stops.